When Hull City clinched promotion to the Premier League by beating Sheffield Wednesday in the 2016 Championship play-off final, no-one had more right to celebrate than Moses Odubajo.

The right-back was the player used most often by Steve Bruce and a model of consistency during his debut season at the KCOM Stadium. Yet the 53rd and final appearance of that golden campaign – 571 days ago at Wembley – cruelly remains Odubajo’s most recent competitive appearance for City.

A knee injury suffered in the opening minutes of a pre-season friendly away to Grimsby Town in July 2016 has since placed a career of huge potential on hold. Twice Odubajo came close to a return last season only to twice suffer setbacks that have ensured 2017 goes down as his lost year.

“I’ll look back at it as a year of challenges but challenges that I’ve overcome,” said Odubajo. “I feel like 2018 is definitely going to be better.

“The last 12 months have tested me a lot, mentally and physically but I know that 2018 is just around the corner. I can only look forward.”

And that was the positive chord struck by Odubajo when he joined Fraizer Campbell, Markus Henriksen and Ondrej Mazuch for volunteering duties at the Hull Foodbank yesterday afternoon. For all the last 17 months have tested him, the defender will head into 2018 smiling.

“I used to think about the Grimsby game a lot but there’s not much I can do about it now,” he added. “I can’t turn back time. Nothing good is going to come from me sitting there and thinking back to it.

“There’s been days when I’ve thought to myself ‘What else can I do?’ or ‘What should I have done differently?’ but that’s life. I’ve got the right people around me. We’re moving forward and making progress all the time.”

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Nothing sums up the time Odubajo has spent on the sidelines like all the drama he has missed at the KCOM Stadium. Four different managers have either resigned or been sacked since he last pulled on a City shirt and now he is approaching fitness with Nigel Adkins at the helm of a club back in the Championship.

Saturday’s trip to Leeds United will be the 70th league and cup game Odubajo has missed through injury but light is finally appearing at the end of the tunnel.

City hope next month will bring a green light for the defender to resume full training, paving the way for Odubajo to take those last steps back towards the first team.

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“I’ve missed it quite a bit to be honest,” said the Londonder, signed from Brentford for £3.5m. “I took a step back for the love of it to begin with. It would be beat me up if I wasn’t out there playing so I didn’t used to go to the games as much.

“Now I’m on the verge of coming back, I need to get back into the groove watching games. I feel like the love of the sport is coming back.”

Odubajo can be forgiven if his affections have faltered. For all a dislocated kneecap was hard to take within two months of his career high in the Championship play-off final, the subsequent complications have made for a greater test.

Jake Livermore (left) and Moses Odubajo of Hull City thank the fans at the final whistle during Hull City's away win at Ipswich in March 2016

“I came close to a comeback twice last season,” explained Odubajo. “The first time was just before Christmas and then there was a setback, then I came close again towards the end of the season and there was another setback. We had to push everything back at that stage.

“In the summer I was literally told to do nothing. I was told to let my knee rest and let the bone fully heal.

“That was really frustrating. I was on crutches and in a brace through the whole of summer and for the start of the season. That was a different summer to one I’ve ever had before. This time we’ve been extra cautious, following all the steps.”

The details are not for the squeamish. “I dislocated my kneecap the first time but the complication for the second and third time was the kneecap fracturing.